Sebenza 31 Lock Rock?!

[kidcongo]

I have to respectfully disagree. I own an Umnumzaan, a small PJ Inkosi, a large PJ 21 and a small inlay 21. None of them have any movement up and down when you press on the spine (let alone a clicking sound as it rocks). None have side to side movement either. All four feel like fixed blades when the blade is deployed. One of the things I love about them.
By far, the most disturbing thing I've heard is CRK saying the "lock rock" that makes a clicking sound like in the video is acceptable.
That blows my mind. It sounds like there is some internal confusion at CRK right now, which is to be expected while a new product rolls out during a pandemic. Hopefully Tim and crew are looking into the issue. I'll purchase a micarta inlay 31 now as soon as they acknowledge there is an issue. I have faith that they will resolve the issue, there is a lot of great manufacturing knowledge @ CRK. But to fix an issue you have to acknowledge it first.
Like you, I'm a huge CRK fan too. I hope they get it sorted out.

Push harder. They all do it. Its no biggy.

 

[kidcongo]

Devil’s advocate here...lol...how many 31’s bought so far went straight to peoples safes? Also, have you noticed that 1-3 BNIB 31’s go for sale in the exchange almost every day since this thread? I wonder why?

There is an issue...no doubt about it. So far even my dealer friend was told by CRK that the lock rock is normal. So after having a preorder for almost a year, to having a 31 with side/side play and rock which is on its way back...im figuring it will be almost 2 years of having my funds tied up to either find out its normal, or CRK messed up. Time will tell. But for over $800 Can, I will end up buying 21’s if the 31’s issues dont get fixed. Everytime I buy a 31 I dont want it to be a lottery of whether I get a major lockrock one or a solidish one.

I believe you likely have a defective knife. One defective knife does not doom a population of knives to suffer the same symptoms.

but yeah sure.......all things are possible. Id be surprised if this issue doesn't just dissolve into the ether, based on how few people are here complaining. We undoubtably have a few, disappointed, vocal people with issues with their 31s. In my experience with the internet, group think, and anonymous forums, that indicates to me the knife is likely a success.

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

I believe you likely have a defective knife. One defective knife does not doom a population of knives to suffer the same symptoms.

but yeah sure.......all things are possible. Id be surprised if this issue doesn't just dissolve into the ether, based on how few people are here complaining. We undoubtably have a few, disappointed, vocal people with issues with their 31s. In my experience with the internet, group think, and anonymous forums, that indicates to me the knife is likely a success.

No one that has a 31 that wants to sell/or has sold it is going to come here to complain.

Right now as it stands I could list my large micarta 31 as:

Slightly Used, no scratches on blade, comes with full kit, locks up to CRK standards, original edge, disassembled and reassembled a few times for cleaning, smooth with a touch of side to side play. (CRK will most likely fix the side/side play)

This is an accurate description...
Think anyone will buy this from me? Especially since I posted in this thread?

 

[kidcongo]

No one that has a 31 that wants to sell/or has sold it is going to come here to complain.

Right now as it stands I could list my large micarta 31 as:

Slightly Used, no scratches on blade, comes with full kit, locks up to CRK standards, original edge, disassembled and reassembled a few times for cleaning, smooth with a touch of side to side play. (CRK will most likely fix the side/side play)

This is an accurate description...
Think anyone will buy this from me? Especially since I posted in this thread?

No one will buy your knife. It has side-to-side blade play which indicates it is defective (if this play is in excess of what would be the microscopic, normal amount any CRK will have). Hopefully your replacement knife will be a better example.

Good luck!

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

No one will buy your knife. It has side-to-side blade play which indicates it is defective (if this play is in excess of what would be the microscopic, normal amount any CRK will have). Hopefully your replacement knife will be a better example.

Good luck!

I knew you were going to say that. Haha.

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

For what its worth kidcongo , Im also keeping my pre-order for the macassar inlay 31 as well. Id like to know for sure if they all have the same amount of flex...but this time I will keep it mint when I check, so I can return it if need be.

 

[Ptman2000]

Since I received my initial small 31 micarta direct from CRK. I’ve also gotten a small “plain” 31 and a large 21 micarta.

there was a significant difference in the small 31 micarta compared to the large 21 and even the small plain 31.

It was one of the ones that you could hear a clunk when applying pressure on the spine.

My issue is that all the responses we’ve gotten from CRK is that it’s “normal”. If it were normal, then why wouldn’t all knives have the same degree of “lock rock”?

that just doesn’t make sense to me and is of great concern.

 

[353]

Should I use it, or just keep it in the safe? If there will be no blades or parts availability in the future, I do not want to risk damaging it to the point where it is unable to be repaired by the mother ship. When I use my knives, like many of you, I use them for everything. So there’s always that risk. I don’t know.

I think it's pretty hard to do any real damage to these blades. I would use it. I do.

More concerned about missplacing/loosing my 21.. A true nightmare!!

 

[mds694]

Received my first ever Sebenza today. Small 31 Plain. Love the texture, good ergonomics for a small knife in medium hands. Razor sharp. Smooth action but can’t say it’s all that much better then any spyderco or benchmade I’ve owned. Don’t hate the lanyard from a functional standpoint but it seems to interfere a bit with closing. So much so that’s its frayed after a couple hours of use. 0 side to side blade play, solid lockup in that regard. However this lock rock described is certainly there. No clicking noise but put your thumb on the spine with some pressure like you would if you were going to make a cut that requires some force and it definitely flexes downwards. I can’t appreciate any movement on the lockbar however but I’m assuming that’s where the give us? I like the knife, can’t say I love it yet, and definitely wouldn’t say it’s worth $200 more than anything I’ve ever owned.

 

[kylemiller]

I think the one's that make noise are genuinely defective, but the ones that flex; Is the lockbar engagement moving or is the lockbar relief flexing? Could the smaller lock engagement interface transfer force differently?

I was finally able to get mine to move using the table technique shown in a video in this thread. I have a small 21 Insingo that I'm not able to get the same movement out of. On the Large 31 it's enough to rise off the stop pin. I wonder if the lock engagement point is changing when this happens or the relief cutout flexing.

 

[aVyD]

I'm back! And this time, with my new Sebenza 31 in hand to hopefully settle this whole debacle.

When I first read this post, I thought, no friggin way CRK would release a knife like that. Spoiler alert! They did. I've opened it. I've pushed on the spine of the knife with a bit of pressure. Clickclick. Clickclick. Clickclick.

Yep! The locker does flex and that ball does make a click sound. You can feel it in your hand. You can faintly hear it. Doesn't take much pressure. IN NO WAY do I believe this will ever cause the lock to fail. It's minuscule. I'm doing it right now while typing this post without any fear of a malfunction.

And so, in the words of my high school teachers whenever I asked a legitimate question, "it's a thing, but it's fineeee".

 

[bmilleker]

I'm back! And this time, with my new Sebenza 31 in hand to hopefully settle this whole debacle.

...... We know it's a thing. Lots of us have 31's...

 

[rxavage]

I had hope of acquiring my first crk, a large 31 insingo in s24vn, whenever those come out, but if lock rock is considered within spec for a brand who’s reputation was made by tight tolerances, that’ll be a hard pass. No thank you.

It baffles me that people are willing to overlook this kind of thing in a 500$ knife, fan boys did the same for spyderco, when it would be an intolerable travesty in a 50$ knife...

 

[bmilleker]

Ugh. This isn't "lock rock"..... We need to stop calling it that. It's lock flex. The lock is safe.

 

[V-1]

Push harder. They all do it. Its no biggy.

Again I have to respectfully disagree.
No they don't all do it. I own an Umnumzaan, a small PJ Inkosi, a large PJ 21 and a small inlay 21. None of them have any movement up and down when you press on the spine (let alone a clicking sound as it rocks). None have side to side movement either. All four feel like fixed blades when the blade is deployed.

 

[kidcongo]

Again I have to respectfully disagree.
No they don't all do it. I own an Umnumzaan, a small PJ Inkosi, a large PJ 21 and a small inlay 21. None of them have any movement up and down when you press on the spine (let alone a clicking sound as it rocks). None have side to side movement either. All four feel like fixed blades when the blade is deployed.

Interesting. Guess all of mine are defective. Don’t know how I bought 8 defective 21s, a defective Umnumzaan, a defective regular, and a defective 25. Sheesh! Just my luck!

I wonder if I should ship them all back to CRK in one box, or just chuck em in the trash?

 

[V-1]

Interesting. Guess all of mine are defective. Don’t know how I bought 8 defective 21s, a defective Umnumzaan, a defective regular, and a defective 25. Sheesh! Just my luck!

I wonder if I should ship them all back to CRK in one box, or just chuck em in the trash?

What are you even talking about? Who said all of your CRK knives are defective? Why would you throw them all in the trash or return them?
This topic has you wound up, relax it's all good. Life's too short to stroke out over what amounts to pretty much nothing.

 

[kidcongo]

What are you even talking about? Who said all of your CRK knives are defective? Why would you throw them all in the trash or return them?
This topic has you wound up, relax it's all good. Life's too short to stroke out over what amounts to pretty much nothing.

No.......you are reading me wrong. Damn netz! I think this whole subject is ridiculous, mostly. I guess my humour was lost.

What I know is all of my CRK frame locks have blades that will move, due to lock bar flex, when I push down on the tip of the blade with the handle on a hard surface.

Do I care about this? Not at all.
Will I care about this with a 31? Likely not.

My only point (barring the couple guys here with defective knives with side-to-side play) is that this so-called up/down lock-Rock is completely subjective.

All CRK framelock knives will do this. Every last one of them, no exceptions. It is only a question of how hard you push. Which is why this thread is mostly bunk. How hard is hard? What’s the baseline?

It’s a fun discussion. I may still throw all my CRKs away. Probably gonna shift over to Cold Steel, cause I do a LOT of spine whacking!

Cheers all. Sorry if I wasted anyone’s time in this thread.

 

[bmilleker]

All CRK framelock knives will do this. Every last one of them, no exceptions. It is only a question of how hard you push. Which is why this thread is mostly bunk. How hard is hard? What’s the baseline?

Preach! The only thing I would change is that ALL framelocks will flex. It's not a strong long in comparison to other lock types. Does it do fine? YES! If you need something stronger, a folder is not the tool for the job. Get a fixed blade.... with real "bank vault" lockup.

 

[WedgeAntilles]

No.......you are reading me wrong. Damn netz! I think this whole subject is ridiculous, mostly. I guess my humour was lost.

What I know is all of my CRK frame locks have blades that will move, due to lock bar flex, when I push down on the tip of the blade with the handle on a hard surface.

Do I care about this? Not at all.
Will I care about this with a 31? Likely not.

My only point (barring the couple guys here with defective knives with side-to-side play) is that this so-called up/down lock-Rock is completely subjective.

All CRK framelock knives will do this. Every last one of them, no exceptions. It is only a question of how hard you push. Which is why this thread is mostly bunk. How hard is hard? What’s the baseline?

It’s a fun discussion. I may still throw all my CRKs away. Probably gonna shift over to Cold Steel, cause I do a LOT of spine whacking!

Cheers all. Sorry if I wasted anyone’s time in this thread.

I agree, you should throw them all away. I run a halfway house for sad, pathetic, CRKs. PM me for my address and I'll put them into a good home to live out their sad, defective days.